How is your worship these days?

The first time I watched this video I didn't know whether to laugh or be offended. As I thought about it more I realized this can be the case sometimes. Whether you are in a traditional church, or a simple church, it's easy to forget what worship truly is about. How is your worship these days? What motivates you to worship? Do you enjoy it? Do you have ways to worship outside of your form of church? These are all great questions to ask ourselves. One thing we live out in our own house church is having each person share what they are most grateful for that day before we have any music worship or anything else. As simple as it may sound, there is something about just slowing down and acknowledging where God was in your day/week. It's almost like you begin to realize He really is here. I think this is the beginning to practice the presence of God...acknowledging Him continuously for all he has done, is doing, and will do!

A Cool Visual On Church

'Obedience-Based' Discipleship

The majority of us from the West have grown up with a Greek mindset, placing high value on how much a person knows. This same mindset has trickled into Christendom, forming a 'knowledge-based' discipleship. In other words, a form of discipleship that is all about getting people to 'know' the Bible. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it isn't necessarily a good thing either. Knowledge-based discipleship has the potential to make us a people content with only knowing truth, not actually obeying it.

It seems as Western Christians we have become the best 'agreers' of truth in the world. On Sunday morning we will be the first to put a stamp on it, the first to say amen to it, and the first to form groups around it. But we struggle to obey it! It's no wonder in John 14 and 15 Jesus emphasizes love and obedience as one in the same.
A helpful way to move beyond knowledge-based discipleship into a more 'obedience-based' discipleship is by simply placing more of a value on obedience. Make sure when your community reads the Bible together to always ask how you can practically obey it? One way we do this in our house church is by always raising the question, "How WILL each of us obey this practically in the next 48 hours?" We give each other a few minutes to think about it and then go around the circle and share. We have found that when we think more in terms of 48 hours it really makes us take it more seriously. We also find that when we commit to obedience in front of the group it holds us to a deeper accountability, allowing us to talk openly about this to each other over the next week.
The following is a clip from a Keith Green concert before he died at the age of 28 in tragic plane crash.. Keith was one of the most radical lovers of Jesus from the 70's who was passionate about not only believing in God, but also following him too...

A Definition of the Word 'Church'

In the New Testament, the word 'church' in it’s original written language of Greek was 'ekklesia'. This particular word was actually not a religious or Christianeez word at the time. The Greek definition as all the people of Jesus day knew it was, “An assembly, or group of people, organized together for a common purpose”. The word ekklesia was 1st used centuries before Jesus was on the earth. The word was most commonly used when referring to political gatherings. The irony of it all is that 1st century Greek actually contained many words used to describe religious specific gatherings but these were never the words used by Jesus, the disciples, or any of the New Testament writers! Isn't it interesting that they all could have used words that everyone would have known was a religious gathering, but they didn't? Could it be that Jesus knew that if he used these other words no one would have thought they would have been capable to create church on their own? Could it be that He used the term 'ekklesia' because it was something anyone could form?

Church is the Equation...

If you were to look for a model of what church is 'suppose' to look like from Jesus’ teachings you wont find one. Jesus never preached a model of church, he only revealed what the product of church should look like. In other words, Jesus gave us the total, but not the equation to get there. It was like Jesus gave us the #3, but didn’t say 1+2 is the way to equal 3. Why, you might ask? Because Jesus also knew that 4-1=3, 3*1=3, 1.5+1.5=3, & 6/2=3. He knew there were so many models that could produce the exact same outcome! He knew that it is not about the model it’s about the product of the model! Jesus often referred to that product as disciples.

How Do You Not Get TOO Big??

When I first began to think about the 'house church' concept, I have to admit I was a bit skeptical. I loved the thought of an accountable, vulnerable, and intimate group centered around Jesus, but I couldn't understand how that could be sustained? I've always known that accountability and evangelism are often high values of house church models, but this led me to a large road block in my mind. I just couldn't get over how a house church wouldn't eventually become too large and lacking intimacy? I always thought that if a group of my closest friends and I truly held each other accountable to reaching the lost, our house church would double in a few short months and thus become exactly what we were trying to get away from??

That being said, I recently heard a church planter share here in South Africa some helpful thoughts with this in mind. In his house-church network many of the churches hold a value they call, "Multiply before you grow." The basic principle behind this value is to focus less on trying bring people to your already existing church, and instead look more towards teaching others how to have church with their closest community like you are. In other words, the goal changes from bringing people to church, to bringing church to them. What would this look like practically? For me personally, when I meet someone who is evidentially hungry and curious in their faith, I DO share with them about my own faith and even how church is played out in my life. If they continue to show interest, particularly in my church, I ask if they would ever consider me teaching them how to do exactly what my friends and I are doing each week to get to know Jesus better? If they say yes, I then go into a 'coaching' mode. I don't lead their group, I simply coach this person from the sidelines, helping them get a house church going with their closest community.

It's important to remember that this concept should NEVER be held religiously. The doors of your church should NEVER be closed, especially if the person you are talking with has no other community or friend group to do this with. It would then be wrong not to welcome them into your community. However, at the same time, you do not need to feel guilty to not advertise an invitation to your group. Jesus focused on 12 and seemed to keep it that number unappologetically. Remember, the heart of 'multiply before you grow' is that all would taste intimate Christ-centered community.